I love this shot, but it wasn’t taken by me. It was taken by my intern, Linette Estevez. She comes to my studio once a week to listen to me rant like this: “So let me get this straight. Your vision of the world is that this guy is going to drive a bus all day, this other guy is going to pick up the trash in the city all day, and this guy is going to make donuts all day while you get to spend the day at the beach in Cancun shoot Kate Upton for Sports Illustrated? What makes you deserve a better career than them? Wait, you may not want to shoot Kate Upton on the beach but you get my point right? You know, whatever your dream shoot might be is what I’m trying to say. I guess mine is the Kate Upton thing, but whatever yours is, what gives you the right to not have to work a real job while everyone else does. Why do you get the dream career but everyone else has to face the cold hard reality of a boring job? Let me tell you, if you expect that to happen you have to earn it by working really hard and being great at what you do. You can’t expect to be "good” or “OK” at photography and expect to have this amazing lifestyle but everyone else is stuck driving buses all day…“

It goes on and on like that for several hours each week and sometimes I feel sorry for her having to endure it all. But she does listen so maybe the whole thing isn’t a giant waste of time for both of us. She took my advice and sold her "state of the (amateur) art” D300 to buy an outdated but professional model D2x. And, her portfolio is 10x better now than it was when she walked in to my studio for the first time.

In this image, she captured me using my iPhone and iPro FIsheye lens to shoot boxer Steven Escobar. While the Nikon D3x is my camera of choice for the studio, I’m not adverse to using an iPhone if it is the tool that will get the job done.